Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine coast guard commander said Friday that the tragic scenes of death his team saw aboard a gutted ferry, including adults clutching children, had moved them to tears and sparked fears other passengers could be found dead in the still-smoldering ship.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A fire broke out on a ferry in the southern Philippines and raged overnight for eight hours, killing at least 31 of the approximately 250 passengers and crew, officials said Thursday.

Many of the more than 200 people who survived the blaze jumped off the MV Lady Mary Joy 3 and were rescued from the dark sea by the coast guard, navy, a nearby ferry and local fishermen, said Gov. Jim Hataman of the southern island province of Basilan. Rescuers were still searching Thursday for at least seven missing people, he said.

MANILA, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on Saturday called on Filipinos to join the observance of Earth Hour to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change.

Marcos said the Malacanang presidential palace will observe Earth Hour from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time Saturday night by switching off non-essential lights.

"Let's switch off and give Mother Nature 60 minutes to breathe," Marcos said in a video message.

ABOARD PHILIPPINES COAST GUARD PLANE, South China Sea, March 10 (Reuters) - As a Philippine coast guard aircraft flew over the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea on Thursday, a message came in over the radio telling it to immediately leave "Chinese territory".

Such warnings, from a Chinese coast guard ship, have become an almost daily ritual around one of the world's most contested archipelagos, where China is one of five countries claiming the strategic islands - or at least some of them - as their own.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to speak up and hold Myanmar’s military leaders accountable for blatant human rights violations, but said the country should remain in the regional bloc.

Anwar, who took office in November, has become one of the most vocal critics in ASEAN of Myanmar’s military, which seized power from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.

MANILA, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Filipinos have become concerned over the enhanced military alliance and strategic partnerships between the Philippines and the United States to build collective security with regional allies Australia and Japan.

Many have been gripped by fear of danger brought by an increased flurry of activity among the allied militaries, including more extensive joint military exercises involving an enormous number of American troops in the Philippines, which is at the center of the Indo-Pacific region.

MANILA, Feb 23 (NNN-PNA) – Rescuers found the four bodies from the small plane, which went down a few hundred metres away from the crater of an active volcano, south-east of Manila, six days ago, a local official said today.

Mayor Caloy Baldo of the Camalig town, where the plane crashed, minutes after taking off, last Saturday morning, said, it could take hours to bring down the bodies of the Filipino pilot and crew and the two Australian engineers aboard the plane, from the volcano slope due to the rugged terrain.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine police search was underway on Wednesday for two motorcycle-riding men who shot and killed a New Zealand man in a brazen street robbery that officials fear could scare foreign tourists away.

The 34-year-old tourist, Nicholas Peter Stacey, was fatally shot once in the chest while trying to wrest a pistol from one of the two robbers who held him up and his Filipina girlfriend on Sunday in a suburban street in Manila’s Makati financial district, police Maj. Gen. Jonnel Estomo said.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines is in talks with the United States as well as Australia on future joint patrols in the South China Sea, where China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed waters are causing concern, top defense officials in the three nations said Wednesday.

MANILA, Feb 20 (NNN-PNA) – Six people, including a local official, were killed, when unidentified gunmen opened fire at a van, in Nueva Vizcaya province, in the northern Philippines, yesterday morning, police said.

The police said, the attack occurred around 8:45 a.m. local time, along a highway in Bagabag town, while the van was travelling north to Aparri, a town in the northern Philippine Cagayan province.